UWM Professors Discuss Sexual Violence and Inequality in Academia

White males are often favored for promotions in academia. Women, minorities and those with different gender identities are often passed up, according to statistics. Whispers of discrimination, intimidation and sexual violence have been running rampant on the UW-Milwaukee campus. Those were some of the claims discussed at a campus forum on inequality in academy.

Some current and former UWM professors have turned up the volume on the whispers. Some of the UWM faculty say they feel unsupported by the UWM administration, and they feel frustrated because they believe that faculty who demonstrate inappropriate behaviors are not disciplined or investigated appropriately. The professors are addressing the concerns head-on, hoping that there will soon the whispers will become a louder battle cry.

UWM’s Center for 21^st Century Studies and the UWM Chapter of the American Association of University Professors recently sponsored a symposium titled “Power and Gendered Labor in the Academy.” Close to 50 people attended. The audience sat in Curtin Hall, room 175 with a quiet reverence for the intense and uncomfortable topics that were discussed.

“It’s about time that more research is done on the role of sexual harassment and overt discrimination has on students’ exit-taking strategies,” said keynote speaker Carol Stabile.  “The system (in academia) is set up to protect the faculty.”

The panel featured current UWM professors and a keynote address by former UWM professor Carol Stabile. Stabile is the former director for The Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University of Oregon.

One member of the panel was Rachel Buff, a professor of history and director of the Cultures and Communities Program and coordinator of the Comparative Ethnic Studies Program at UWM. She is also a past president of the AAUP.

Sexual violence perpetrated by professors and their graduate students was a hotly discussed topic, and it hit close to home since UWM Professor Anthony Azenabor was recently charged with sexual assault of a graduate student under his supervision.

“Can I just point out that this is a feminism conference, and we are passing around a phallic symbol?” said Buff as she passed the microphone to her colleague. “Fifty-four percent of male professors reach the tenured track versus 46% of women. Women sometimes don’t finish because of their gender and power struggles.”

“‘Genius’ faculty members are romanticized, genius has been long been the excuse to act with sexual violence, it is academic intimidation,” said Stabile. “From the Kavanaugh hearings to R. Kelly, to Leaving Neverland, it’s been a long year. I’m really pissed.”

She described that many professors who supervise graduate students have “celebrity status,” and the students follow their instruction closely, many times, out of fear of punishment. “If you have to ask about the rules of the club, then you probably don’t meet the criteria to be in it.”

Stabile stated that since graduate students work closely one-on-one with these “star” and “genius” professor advisors, they are especially vulnerable and susceptible to sexual violence and intimidation. “Advisors hold the key to their future,” said Stabile.

UWM professor Cary Costello discussed how minorities and members of the LGBTQ communities are also overlooked when it comes to opportunities to advance their academic careers. “Social ideas of what a professor is usually someone who is white, upper-class, white and male,” said Costello.

Costello is an associate professor of sociology and director of the LGBT Studies program at UWM whose research focuses on the regulation of sex and gender through medical interventions into the bodies of intersex and transgender people, according to a faculty bio.

“Graduate students who identify as something other than mainstream are encouraged by universities to express themselves,” said Costello. “However, when it comes time for them to go into the workforce, they are told by those same people to get thee back into the closet.”

The panel all agreed that is concerning that, in their opinion, the UWM administration struggles with transparency. They agreed that talking about it in an open forum is a good start; however, they also agreed that some tenured professors don’t think that they are the problem.

“The administration doesn’t want to deal with the inequalities of the university or the complaints people have,” Buff said. “The administration is bloated; I had a coworker who is no longer here try to call the ombudsman line to file a complaint about racial discrimination and was disconnected.”

“The issues we are talking about are issues that end up silencing people,” said Buff. “We shouldn’t wait until tenure to say what we think.”

The symposium is part of The Center for 21^st Century Studies’ “Insecurity Series” and there will be another symposium addressing similar issues in May.